What are your most common thoughts?  Are they positive thoughts?  Do you think to yourself, “good job”, “I’m awesome”, “wow this is going to be great”?  Or do your thoughts sound something more like this, “I wish I would have…”, “I shouldn’t…”, “that was dumb”?

I’d really hate to admit it, but personally I think things in my head that I would never imagine uttering from my own lips.  Why is that?  Why are we so down and hard on ourselves?  Why are we our own biggest critics?  What can we do about it?

Experience has taught me that I have to take a look at where I’m at and where I have been.  Then I have to figure out where I want to go.  So where I have been is being superbly hard on myself, negatively criticizing each tiny detail of my life.  I want to go where God would want me to be.  So I turned to the Bible and found these verses.

Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV)

Ephesians 4:23-24, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” (NLT)

Romans 12:2a, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (NIV)

We need to allow God to shape our minds and our thoughts to His.  What must God think about?  I’m going to guess it’s good and lovely things based upon the verses above.  What if today we told ourselves these things?  If you really want to get out of your comfort zone, speak them aloud to yourself.

“I am beautiful.”

“I am gifted and talented.”

“I am a priceless masterpiece.”

“I make meaningful progress over time.”

“I am growing each day in tiny strides.”

“I am God’s precious beloved.”

We need to be telling ourselves these things as often as we can.  Write them on note cards, sticky note them to your computer or dashboard, write them on your mirror, leave yourself a voicemail reminder at work or whatever you need to do.  Speak the words, think the words with meaning and passion.  Be enthusiastic.  When you value yourself this week, look back and see what effect it had on the value that you showed to those around you too.

I hope by this point I have got you smiling, now like in the song from the movie Peter Pan, “When there’s a smile in your heart, There’s no better time to start”!

You are awesome and thank you for giving me so many reasons to PEP UP today!